Dean’s Message
Welcome to the spring 2017 edition of the e-newsletter for alumni and friends! As you may know, Illinois has been in an unprecedented budget impasse for 22 months now, and public universities are facing significant financial challenges. Interim Chancellor Brad Colwell delivered his detailed budget reduction strategy at the end of March. The total amount to cut for SIU Carbondale is $30 million, which means a 15.9 percent reduction of our state budget. One of the actions we have to take is to make $19 million in permanent cuts to state-funded accounts starting July 1, 2017. This equals a 10 percent permanent reduction in state funding on top of the 10 percent already taken in the current fiscal year. Moreover, we must implement a 10-year plan to pay back the unrestricted funds we borrowed from the SIU System during the state budget impasse in the last two years. The first year payback will be $11 million for the new fiscal year that begins July 1.
We need to take actions to keep our university financially viable for the months ahead. I hope we can manage the reductions to minimize the negative impact to our College while maximizing the possibility of rebuilding enrollment and securing our financial strength through diverse revenue sources. In the last few years, academic and non-academic programs had cuts and graduate assistantships were reduced significantly. Lack of a state appropriation means we must stretch every available dollar, slow down purchasing and hiring, become even more efficient by consolidating positions and possibly departments and offices. It may also be necessary to put on hold some things that are important but less mission-critical.
With repeated budget reductions, the university may look a bit different in the future as we redefine ourselves in a new financial era, but our core educational mission will not change. The College of Applied Sciences and Arts Research Committee is planning a Faculty Research Flash Talk event on April 28, 2017, and this year’s ASA Multidisciplinary Research Symposium will be held on November 4, 2017. The theme of the conference this year is “New Horizons in the Applied Sciences and Arts: Rethinking and Remaking Our World for the 21st Century.” The SIU Security Dawgs from our School of Information Systems and Applied Technologies placed second at Midwest Collegiate Cyber Defense Competition in March. Our ISAT Student Web Development Team was one of five finalists to compete in St. Louis during the Association for Information Technology Professionals’ conference in April. The Aviation Flight program has been selected to participate in the Top Hawk 2017 program, and our Flying Salukis will have a brand new, customized Cessna Skyhawk to use for the duration of a Sun & Fun event in Florida.
The College of Applied Sciences and Arts Diversity and Inclusivity Committee met this spring. It was suggested that all committee members take “Safe Zone Training” through the university’s Student Multicultural Resource Center this semester. The training sessions educate the campus about LGBTQ issues. Participating in the safe zone program helps create a campus that is inclusive and affirming. Thousands of safe zone participants are committed to social justice and understand the importance of diversity in the university community.
We welcome your feedback. If you have suggestions about what you would like to see or what services you would like provided from my office, please send a note to awang@siu.edu. In the meantime, I encourage you to share news and information to include in future issues of the newsletter. Please also keep your contact information up to date so you can continue to receive our updates, invitations to events, and other publications. Thank you.
Andy Wang, Ph.D.
Professor and Dean